Preparing for the inclusive classroom: changing teachers’ attitudes and knowledge

Abstract

India’s educational policy on inclusive education for students with disabilities is in sync with general global developments. Especially in the last couple of years there have been significant legislative achievements towards this endeavour. However, the implementation of inclusive education remains elusive. Besides this, teachers’ preparedness for inclusion has received little attention. This survey study had two aims. Firstly, we aimed at finding or constructing a reliable instrument to measure three aspects: the attitudes, knowledge about disability and inclusive teaching methods of regular schoolteachers. Secondly, we aimed to describe the outcomes of the three aspects. For attitudes and teaching methods we found a reliable instrument, which was selected for the usage in this study. We constructed and assessed the reliability of a scale in measuring knowledge about four disabilities: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, intellectual disability and autistic spectrum disorder in pilot and main studies. The results revealed that teachers hold neutral attitudes towards inclusive education. Their knowledge about disabilities, however, was low, but knowledge about inclusive teaching methods was acceptable, which was a significant finding. The practical implications for preparing teachers to work towards inclusion are also discussed.

Keywords:

• Teachers’ attitudes
• knowledge about disabilities
• inclusive teaching methods
• questionnaire
• India

Notes

1. ‘Regular primary school teachers’ refer to the teachers who are teaching in general or mainstream schools of India.

2. We are conscious that the term intellectual disability is used for mental retardation in many countries, but in many countries it is still an unfamiliar term. In the Indian context mental retardation is used and better understood, which made us decide to use this term.